by Tess Oliver
Nix & Scotlyn: The Wedding
(Custom Culture, #5)
Tess Oliver
Nix & Scotlyn: The Wedding
Copyright© 2014 by Tess Oliver
Cover Design by: Nikki Hensley
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.
All Rights are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chpater 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Custom Culture
Tess Oliver
Prologue
Clutch was beaming as he lumbered toward me along the line of classic cars. “Just sold the El Camino for fifteen.” The words shot out long before he reached me.
“Dude. Fifteen? Nice.”
“Yep, and I’ve already got my eye on a sweet little ‘69 Camaro that just needs some love and she’ll be a beauty.” Clutch put his giant hand on my shoulder. “If only our high school classmates could see us now, especially the ones who started the betting pool that neither of us would graduate. I’m dipping in five digit car deals, and Nix Pierce, better known in the hallways of Chapman High as the Heartbreak Kid, just finished his first booked solid week of tattoos at his very own shop. Freefall is going to be the go to place for ink, you wait and see.”
“Yeah, blows my mind how well the shop is doing. I finally hired someone full-time. Her name is Cassie, and she’s fucking brilliant. I got really lucky.”
“Was she that cute little, brainy-looking Goth girl with the piercings and the black rimmed glasses?”
“Oh, that’s right, you were leaving when she came in for her interview. She is sharp. I will have to treat her like gold to make sure she sticks around.” Someone fired up a crisp, loud set of speakers from a nearby truck. “I thought there was going to be a band tonight. There’s a big enough crowd for it.”
“I heard they canceled. But at least the food trucks are here.”
I smiled up at him. I was six-two, but Clutch stood a good four inches over me, with a shoulder width to match his height. His super human size had earned him the nickname Viking, and it didn’t hurt with the girls either. Keeping him fed was an all day event.
Clutch pulled a hundred dollar bill out of his wallet. “Taco truck? My treat.”
I leaned closer and dropped my voice. “Shit, do you have fifteen grand in that thing?”
“Yeah, did you forget the earlier conversation? I sold the El Camino.”
“I remember. I just didn’t realize you got cash for it. I guess it’s a good thing you are a human fortress. Just don’t drop that thing in your quest to shovel in your usual dozen tacos.”
Clutch glanced over the heads of the crowd and something caught his eye. “Speaking of high school, there’s a circle of curious onlookers gathering over there. Must either be an argument or a spectacular car.” He looked over at me. “Remember that day when those two chicks got into it in the lunch quad? We all circled around and got really quiet so as not to alert any of the proctors. One of the girls was that head cheerleader, Mandy, who you banged after prom even though she wasn’t your date.”
“And we’re reminiscing about this because…”
He shrugged. “Don’t know. The circle of people just reminded me of a fight.” I couldn’t see across the crowd and maze of cars as well as him. He glanced that direction again. “Yep, definitely a fight of some kind.” And with those words, we both looked wide-eyed at each other.
“Damnit.” I looked quickly around.
“Where the hell is he?” Clutch asked.
“He was sitting over there at that bench making the moves on some blonde in a short green dress and sandals.”
Clutch sighed. “Did she have a sleeve of tattoos on her right arm?”
“Yeah.”
Clutch started across the lot, and I followed, having to take extra long strides to keep up with him. “Remember that grumpy ass guy, Olson, with the sixty-six Nova and the build of a grizzly bear? The guy who was trying to tell me that I painted the El Camino the wrong shade of red?” We slid through the crowd, which grew denser as we neared the circle.
I knew where this was going. “Let me guess. The blonde Dray was hitting on is his girlfriend?”
“Yep.”
We pushed through elbows and craning necks. Dray was standing in the center of the circle being held by two guys, who were considerably bigger than him, which wasn’t saying much. Dray was small, but he was stronger and tougher than a goddamn gladiator. There were times I could swear he didn’t feel physical pain, a survival skill he’d developed during a nightmarish childhood with a father who only knew how to communicate with his fist and belt. This seemed to be one of those times. A long stream of blood dripped from the corner of his mouth, and the side of his face was swollen. The half-bear, half-human asshole Clutch had mentioned drove his fist into Dray’s gut just as we pushed into the center. The blonde stood nearby by pretending to look horrified, while, at the same time, basking in the knowledge that this was all because of her.
Dray sucked in the breath that had been knocked from him, and then a smile broke out on his face, causing the blood stream to thicken. “Hey, bros, look. This fool needs help from his two buddies to fight me.”
The guy turned around to see who Dray was talking to. One of his eyes was swollen shut, and his lip was ripped open. And the idiot probably had no idea that Dray had obviously been holding back. Otherwise, the asshole would be face down on the ground trying to remember his name.
“Mason.” He glared angrily at Clutch, which wasn’t easy with one eye sealed shut. “It figures this little piece of shit is a friend of yours. You can watch while I pummel him into pudding.” He spun around and drew back his arm, but Clutch grabbed hold of it. “What the fuck, Mason?” He tried to wrench his arm free from Clutch’s iron grasp.
“Olson, if you want to fight him face to face, then go for it. You’ll lose, but at least you’ll be able to walk away with your balls. Three of you against one, that’s just plain bullshit.”
The crowd, the same group of people who’d been enthusiastically watching Dray get pinned and beaten, clapped wildly now throwing their support to the underdog. Although, Dray was rarely the underdog in any fight.
“Look what he did to my face,” the guy sneered.
“An improvement if you ask me,” Clutch said. The onlookers laughed. “Besides, you got off lucky. My friend here must have been feeling generous, otherwise, you’d be searching this asphalt for your fucking teeth right now.”
Olson tensed his fist, and I wondered, for a second, if he was stupid enough to
throw it at Clutch. He backed down. As I figured he would.
“Look, you got in your licks,” I said. “This is over.” I walked up to the guys holding Dray. “We’re done here.” They hesitated at first, but I didn’t step away. They dropped their arms. I knew Dray well enough to anticipate what might come next. I stepped forward and put my hand on his shoulder before he took a swing at either guy. “Rosie’s tacos will be sold out if we don’t hurry.” I also knew him well enough to know how to lure him away from fighting with his second favorite thing in the world— food.
With no more blood being splattered, the crowd slowly dispersed and headed back to the cars and the food. Olson and his two partners shot ugly scowls at us as the three of us walked past.
Halfway across the lot, Dray leaned over to spit out some blood. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Hey, Nix,” he laughed, “I think you’ve got toilet paper on your shoe.”
I bent over and lifted the paper off my toe. It was a flyer with a girl’s picture. I smoothed it out. Clutch stared over my shoulder at the pin-up model. Her round blue eyes stared back at me as if she was asking my name.
I held the paper up to get a better look. “Holy shit.”
Clutch glanced over at Dray. “Just exactly what are you using to wipe your ass with these days?”
Dray leaned over to look at the crumpled picture. “Jeez, she is something.” He looked around. “I saw some girls dressed like pin-ups over by that Corvette earlier. Do you think she’s here?”
“I was checking those girls out,” Clutch said. “I would have remembered if I’d seen her.”
They were having a conversation over my shoulder, but I couldn’t drag my attention away from the picture. Besides being extremely beautiful, there was a layer of emotion in the girl’s face. She was smiling, but it seemed to be a front. There was a touch of sadness in her crystal blue eyes.
Dray knuckled my arm. “Hey, tacos, remember?”
“Yep.” I gazed at the photo a moment longer. Then I folded it and stuck it in my pocket.
Dray flashed me an obnoxious grin. “You’re going to keep it?”
“Why would I throw out a picture of my future wife?” I asked.
Clutch laughed as he headed toward the taco truck.
Dray and I followed.
“Besides,” I said, “I want to ask around and see if anyone knows her.”
“Whatever floats your boat.”
“Speaking of floating boats— you owe me your half of the rent. The marina raised the slip fee for the houseboat. So, pay up soon or we’ll have to drift around at sea on the Zany Lucy, and I’m not completely sure she’s all that seaworthy.”
“Yeah, what gave it away? The puddle of ocean water under the kitchen table?”
“Just pay me soon.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
My phone rang. “It’s my sister. Hey, go tell Clutch I want two carne asada and two chicken tacos. And remind him that he’s treating.”
I headed to the picnic tables as I answered the phone. “Hey, Diana, how did Nana’s physical go?”
She paused.
“Di?”
“It went all right.”
“What do you mean all right?”
“I mentioned to the doctor about how she seems to be forgetting stuff more and more and how she sometimes asks the same question a few minutes after she’s already asked it.”
“Yeah, I thought we figured it was just because she doesn’t have Grandpa to talk to anymore.” My grandmother had raised Diana and me after my dad, Nana’s son, died in his race car, and my mom left us for her new life and lover. My dad’s death had taken a huge toll on Nana, but she’d had us to take care of to keep her mind off the tragedy. Growing up, Dray and Clutch had spent more time at Nana’s than with their own families. My wise and perfect grandmother had kept us all from going over the edge. We weren’t the easiest trio of teenagers to manage either.
“The doctor wants to do a few tests to see if she’s in the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s,” Diana’s voice wavered.
“Shit. When are they going to start?”
“Next week. Can you take her?”
“I’ll reschedule some stuff.”
“Thanks. Well, I’ve got to feed the kids. I’ll call you with the time and date tomorrow.”
“All right. Hey, Di, the doctors are wrong. How could someone with as brilliant a mind as Professor Lucy Pierce have Alzheimer’s? You know?”
“Doesn’t seem possible to me either, Nix. But we need to prepare for whatever comes next.”
“Yeah, all right. Talk to you later. Bye.”
Clutch and Dray walked toward the table with the boxes of tacos and drinks. “Did this guy tell you about Barrett having to work thirty-six hour shifts on the fishing boat?” Dray asked as he lowered the food to the table. “Shit, there’s only one thing I can imagine holding Rett’s attention for that long, and it’s got nothing to do with fishing.”
“You look like you dropped your ice cream,” Clutch said to me as they climbed over the bench. “Still thinking about that picture?”
I shook my head. “Diana called. Nana is going to go in for tests to see if she has Alzheimer’s.”
Clutch placed down the taco he was holding, and Dray put on that hardened mask that he used to hide emotion. My two friends loved my grandmother as much, or maybe even more, than their own parents.
“That sucks,” Clutch said.
Dray pushed away the taco bag. “Can’t eat these with a split lip anyhow.”
I looked around at the people milling about the cars. “Life sure knows how to slap you around when you least expect it.”
Chapter 1
Nix
Three years later.
I reached into the pocket of my shorts to make sure the small velvet box was still there. I was nervous as hell. The guy who everyone had called Heartbreak Kid in high school was nervous about a girl. But Scotlyn wasn’t just any girl. She was the girl. There was no one else but her. I’d been in love with her since I’d found her picture, keeping it tucked in my wallet in what Dray had referred to as my ugly little slide into stalkerdom. The day the object of my obsession walked into Freefall, my life turned upside down. Haunted by a horrible tragedy, she could only communicate with notes and hand gestures. And so, armed with only a pen and paper, the girl, the complete stranger, who’d captured my heart with just her picture, scrawled herself right into my soul. I was so damn nuts about Scotlyn, two years later, she was still making my head spin.
I didn’t bother to dress. I stepped into the tiny kitchen. Scotlyn stood at the sink sipping a glass of water. Her silky blonde hair cascaded over her tanned shoulders. She’d pulled back on her skimpy tank shirt but nothing else. The early summer sun had set leaving behind enough warmth that the galley on the Zany Lucy was bathed in drowsy heat. Hints of the triple digit California summer lurked just around the corner. It would be our last time on the boat. The Zany Lucy’s new owners would be hauling her up north tomorrow for refurbishing.
Scotlyn turned. Her smile lit up the shadowy kitchen. We’d been together two years, but every time I looked at her, every time I touched her, it was like the first time. She could turn me to jelly with a simple gesture like pushing a strand of hair behind her ear.
“I’m going to miss seeing you on this boat.” I pulled out a chair and sat down. The table was covered with wine glasses and snacks.
“I’m going to miss being here.” Scotlyn had planned the evening, hoping it would make me feel better about having to sell off the boat named after Nana, my grandmother. My grandparents had lived on it in the early years of their marriage, and my grandfather had left it to me. Dray and I had lived on it for a long time, but I didn’t have the money for the upkeep and the slip rental had increased so much I could no longer afford to keep her at the marina. The man who bought her happened to be married to a woman named Lucy, and so, they’d both decided it was fate and made a good offer. The money would hel
p pay for Scotlyn’s nursing school.
Scotlyn walked around the table and stood in front of me. I gazed at her. I had every curve memorized. It was impossible for me to be this close and not touch her. I reached out and took hold of her hips. We’d spent the last two hours drinking wine and making love, but I wanted her again.
A tiny wicked glint flashed in her big blue eyes. “Will that chair hold both of us?”
“If it can hold Clutch, it can hold the two of us.”
She tapped her chin with her finger in consideration for a second. “I guess we’ll find out.” She straddled my lap. My face pressed against her breasts as she slid slowly down over my cock. I slid her shirt up and ran my tongue along the edge of the scar that stretched from her breast to her hip. The vine of flowers, the tattoo that had brought her into my life, laced erotically around the pink scar.
The chair squeaked angrily and she giggled. I slid my hands underneath her naked ass, and she rose up and down over me. I lifted my face to hers. She lowered her lips to mine, driving her small tongue into my mouth as I filled her over and over again. Her movements quickened as she rocked her hips forward and ground her sweet pussy against me. Nearing climax, she pulled her lips from mine, and her head lulled back. Soft moans fell from her mouth, and she held tightly to me as her lithe, satiny body wriggled against me. I watched her amazing face as her wet pussy clenched around my cock. Still shuddering, she slid back and forth over me, bringing me to the edge. I held her tightly and moved against her, thrusting deep inside of her. A low groan rolled up from my throat, and I held her over me as I came.